This year's "Night that creates knowledge" took place on 4 November 2023. All citizens were invited to experience science up close at various LUH locations and get involved in a variety of hands-on activities. Once again this year, many of the institutes represented at FZ:GEO were actively involved and attracted numerous interested visitors with a varied programme consisting of lectures, exhibitions, laboratory tours and other hands-on activities.
The Institutes of Geology and Mineralogy, for example, offered a complementary programme at the same location. This included a fossil exhibition, which, in addition to selected fossils, also vividly illustrated the geological events in the Hanover area in the form of a journey along a city railway line. Citizens were also able to have their own rock finds identified by experts and view rock samples (thin sections) under a microscope. Thanks to geological maps of the region and corresponding tectonic reconstructions, visitors were given a vivid insight into the history of the earth. Two exciting lectures on the geology and fossils of Hanover and the influence of volcanoes on the climate, followed by a guided tour of the laboratory, rounded off the varied programme.
The Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics (IKG) presented two exhibits. Visitors were able to explore Hanover in virtual reality by navigating through a voxel-based visualisation using gesture control. The basis for the visualisation in virtual reality was laser data acquisition using lidar sensors. These were also mounted on the new mobile mapping cargo bike and were intended to illustrate how vehicles, e.g. an autonomous car, perceives ("sees") the environment through this sensor technology and can recognise and track objects.
Many other institutes involved in FZ:GEO also took the opportunity to present their research to the interested public at the "Night that creates knowledge".
The Institute of Soil Science, for example, was represented with an extensive programme, including presentations on artificial intelligence and how it can help to find life in space, as well as on the role of catch crops in sustainable agricultural production. The programme was rounded off with hands-on activities such as a quiz for children on the subject of earth sciences and an exhibition on unusual facts about mushrooms.
Brief descriptions of all the activities on offer at this year's "Night that creates knowledge" can be found in the programme booklet.
